The W.A. Parish plant in Fort Bend County relies on natural gas and coal to generate electricity. The Energy Department says prices are so low that operators shut down 531 coal-fired generation units between 2002 and 2016. less

The W.A. Parish plant in Fort Bend County relies on natural gas and coal to generate electricity. The Energy Department says prices are so low that operators shut down 531 coal-fired generation units between ... more

Photo: Eric Kayne, INVL

Photo: Eric Kayne, INVL

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The W.A. Parish plant in Fort Bend County relies on natural gas and coal to generate electricity. The Energy Department says prices are so low that operators shut down 531 coal-fired generation units between 2002 and 2016. less

The W.A. Parish plant in Fort Bend County relies on natural gas and coal to generate electricity. The Energy Department says prices are so low that operators shut down 531 coal-fired generation units between ... more

The head of the Energy Department's fossil energy program said government researchers remained focused on reducing the costs of carbon capture, despite a proposed budget cut.

"There's still a lot of early stage research that needs to be done," Steve Winberg, assistant secretary for fossil energy, said Tuesday. "We will continue that activity."

Under Energy Secretary Rick Perry's proposed budget for 2019, funding for carbon capture would be reduced 80 percent from the $196.3 million budgeted by Congress last year.

But during an appearance at the IHS Markit CERAWeek energy conference, Winberg said the department remained committed to cutting the cost of carbon capture by 50 percent to $30 per ton of carbon dioxide.

In an interview following the event, he said the department would shift away from the government-funded demonstration projects like NRG Energy's Petranova project, which captures carbon at an older coal plant outside Houston.

At the same time the department is pursuing designs for smaller, more efficient coal plants to compete on what Winberg described as an "evolving" grid where natural gas plants and wind and solar farms are dominating new installations.

"By increasing efficiency we will also reduce emissions and make [coal plants] better candidates for [carbon capture]," he said. "With the existing fleet, there's fairly limited opportunity," explaining most U.S. coal plants were built in the 1970s and were too inefficient to justify a large investment.

The proposal to develop new coal plants has riled many in the clean energy sector, who say the new coal plants produce too much carbon to attract investors increasingly worried about a growing global movement to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

"I don't know how it's going to change the situation, because gas is cheaper and more flexible" said Sally Benson, co-director of Stanford University's Precourt Institute for Energy.